A Mobile Motion Capture System Based on Inertial Sensors and Smart Shoes

Abstract

Motion capture systems play an important role in health-care and sport-training systems. In particular, there exists a great demand on a mobile motion capture system that enables people to monitor their health condition and to practice sport postures anywhere at any time. The motion capture systems with infrared or vision cameras, however, require a special setting, which hinders their application to a mobile system. In this paper, a mobile three-dimensional motion capture system is developed based on inertial sensors and smart shoes. Sensor signals are measured and processed by a mobile computer; thus, the proposed system enables the analysis and diagnosis of postures during outdoor sports, as well as indoor activities. The measured signals are transformed into quaternion to avoid the Gimbal lock effect. In order to improve the precision of the proposed motion capture system in an open and outdoor space, a frequency-adaptive sensor fusion method and a kinematic model are utilized to construct the whole body motion in real-time. The reference point is continuously updated by smart shoes that measure the ground reaction forces.

Robust classification of hand posture to arm posture change using inertial measurement units

“…Several measurement methods for body posture have been reported [8][9][10]. Inertial measurement unit (IMU) can be attached on the arm that it does not need any external sensors.…”

Sensor Fusion and Smart Sensor in Sports and Biomedical Applications

“…Information and analysis usually do not depend on the response of only one sensor but on the data fusion of multiple sensors, which must subsequently undergo processing and data communication in a dynamic and interactive way (preferably during exercise execution). However, in most cases post processing only occurs remotely [18,19]. …”

“…Sensor fusion, most commonly applied in sports, contains the following sensors: Accelerometer, Gyroscope and Magnetometer [12,18,19,21]. Keeping in mind that sensor fusion and smart sensor concepts can be used together, the selected applications in sports are presented and organized according to a specific sport or group of modalities, such as athletics, swimming, cycling, ball and puck sports and general applications.…”

Walking pattern analysis using deep learning for energy harvesting smart shoes with IoT

“…This data is recorded and transferred via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, to mobile applications or computers for the analysis purpose. Devices like sensors, controllers, wireless devices, accelerometer [2], gyroscope, and magnetometer [3] are used for understanding the walking pattern and collecting data for the gait analysis [4]. As smart shoes are capable of monitoring the physical health and to offer suggestions for improvement in the wearer's lifestyle, there is a need and demand for it are increasing day by day.…”